1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic devices which produce music, and more particularly, to a device for automatically producing music upon the occurrence of an activating event.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to use various activating events for automatically starting electronic devices. Many of these devices are security devices that are automatically actuated upon the occurrence of an event. Many of these devices are associated with a door lock. For example, the following U.S. patents disclose electronic security devices associated with door locks: 4,438,426; 4,893,852; 5,019,812; 5,029,912; and Des. 299,905.
Generally, security devices operate in the following manner. When an unauthorized act takes place, an alarm device is automatically actuated. When an authorized act takes place, no alarm is actuated.
However, a person may wish certain acts to take place automatically upon an authorized entry through a door. More specifically, a person may want a light to be lit automatically when a door opens during an authorized entry. In addition, a person may want music to begin when a door opens during an authorized entry. In this respect, it would be desirable if a device were provided which automatically activates a desired occurrence when a door is opened during an authorized entry.
One specific kind act that may be desirable to take place upon the occurrence of an authorized entry through a door is the playing of music. In this respect, it would be desirable if a device were provided which automatically begins the playing of music when a door is opened during an authorized entry.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,852, different forms of wave energy are conventionally used in security systems. However, it would be desirable, instead, to employ wave energy to initiate a specific kind of act upon the occurrence of an authorized entry through a door.
When a door is equipped with a security system, in order to prevent the occurrence of an alarm during an authorized entry through the door, a series of steps must be often be taken by an authorized entrant in order to prevent the sounding of an alarm. Often, the authorized entrant must enter a security code to prevent the occurrence of the alarm. Codes are often complex and may be easily forgotten. Yet they may be necessary to prevent an unauthorized person from randomly discovering them. Yet, when the problem of unauthorized entry is not a problem to be reckoned with, it would be desirable to be able to prevent the automatic occurrence of an event that would occur upon an authorized entry. In this respect, it would be desirable if a device were provided which permits the prevention of an automatic occurrence of an event when a door is opened in an authorized manner without using coded information.
When a person first opens a door to enter a dwelling, such as a house or an apartment, the person may like to hear a musical sound emanating from the interior of the dwelling. This means that the act of opening the door should remotely actuate a music generator in the interior of the dwelling.
Remote communication between one location by another is carried out by either a hard wire link or a wave energy link. A hard wire link takes up space, may be tripped over, and may fatigue and break with continuous and repetitive use. In this respect, it would be desirable if a device were provided which avoids the use of a hard wire connection between the door and the music generator.
A wave transmitter can communicate with a wave receiver without using a hard wire link. Such wave communications are used for communicating over large distances, such as by radio and television stations; and they are also used over short distances, such as for remote controls of televisions and video cassette recorders. In addition, wave communications may be employed between input/output devices and central processing units in computer systems. Because of the advantages of a wave energy link, it would be desirable if communication between a door of a dwelling and a music generator in the interior of the dwelling be effectuated by a wave energy link.
When a door to a dwelling is opened, a two-step procedure generally is carried out. First, a door lock is unlocked; and second, the unlocked door is swung open. To simplify operation of a wave energy link between a door and a music generator, it would be desirable if a wave transmitter were automatically turned on when the door lock were unlocked. In addition, to simplify operation, it would be desirable if the music generator were turned on automatically when the unlocked door were swung open.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use alarms actuated by unauthorized entry through a door, the prior art described above does not teach or suggest an automatically actuated music apparatus which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) automatically activates a desired occurrence when a door is opened during an authorized entry; (2) automatically begins the playing of music when a door is opened during an authorized entry; (3) employs wave energy to initiate a specific kind of act upon the occurrence of an authorized entry through a door; (4) permits the prevention of an automatic occurrence of an event when a door is opened in an authorized manner without using coded information; (5) remotely actuates a music generator in the interior of the dwelling when a door to the dwelling is opened; (6) avoids the use of a hard wire connection between the door and the music generator; (7) uses a wave energy link to effectuate communication between a door of a dwelling and a music generator in the interior of the dwelling; (8) automatically turns on a wave transmitter when the door lock is unlocked; and (9) automatically turns on the music generator when the unlocked door is swung open. The foregoing desired characteristics are provided by the unique automatically actuated music apparatus of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.